Chapter 3 - The Board Chose a Side
The ballroom fell silent again.
Every eye turned toward the entrance.
The elderly man standing there wasn't just another guest.
He was Charles Whitmore.
Chairman of the Hawthorne Group's Board.
The man who had invested in Ethan twenty years earlier.
The man Ethan often called his second father.
Charles slowly walked toward the stage, followed by six board members.
No one applauded.
No one greeted him.
The tension in the room was unbearable.
Ethan forced a smile.
"Charles... this isn't the time."
Charles ignored him.
Instead, he looked at Victoria.
"You should have known the truth years ago."
Victoria frowned.
"What truth?"
Charles sighed.
"I wanted Ethan to tell you himself."
Ethan's face hardened.
"Enough."
"No," Charles replied. "You've had fifteen years to tell the truth."
Victoria felt a chill.
For the first time that evening...
She realized the affair wasn't the biggest secret in the room.
Charles turned to the audience.
"I owe all of you an apology."
"The Hawthorne Group has spent years promoting itself as a company built on trust, integrity, and family values."
He paused.
"Tonight... that image collapsed."
Reporters immediately raised their cameras.
Several board members exchanged uneasy looks.
Charles continued.
"But infidelity isn't why we're here."
Ethan's heartbeat quickened.
"Don't."
Charles met his eyes.
"You don't get to decide anymore."
Victoria looked from one man to the other.
"What are you talking about?"
Charles answered quietly.
"Three months ago, the board launched an internal audit."
Ethan's breathing stopped.
"We discovered company funds had been transferred into private accounts."
Gasps echoed through the ballroom.
Victoria stared at Ethan.
"No..."
Charles nodded.
"More than eighty million dollars."
The room erupted.
"Impossible!"
"Ethan stole from his own company?"
"This can't be real!"
Ethan slammed both hands onto the podium.
"I didn't steal anything!"
"I borrowed money to protect this company!"
Charles didn't flinch.
"You never asked the board."
"I was going to pay it back!"
"When?"
Ethan had no answer.
Victoria felt the floor beneath her disappear.
She had defended this man for years.
She had believed every late-night meeting...
Every emergency flight...
Every business crisis.
She whispered,
"Were you lying to me about all of it?"
Ethan looked at her.
"No."
She laughed bitterly.
"No?"
"You lied about another woman."
"You lied about your business trips."
"You lied about your finances."
"What exactly didn't you lie about?"
For the first time all night...
Ethan looked broken.
"I was trying to save everything."
Victoria stepped closer.
"Everything?"
She pointed toward Sophia.
"Did sleeping with her save the company too?"
The room went silent.
Sophia burst into tears.
"I didn't know."
Victoria looked at her.
"I believe you."
Sophia froze.
"So stop protecting him."
Sophia slowly nodded.
Then she reached into her handbag.
"I was going to delete these."
She pulled out her phone.
"But not anymore."
Ethan's eyes widened.
"Sophia..."
She ignored him.
She walked directly to Charles.
"There are emails."
"Bank transfers."
"Messages."
"I saved everything."
The ballroom exploded with whispers.
Ethan lunged forward.
"Give me that phone!"
Charles's security team stepped between them.
"Mr. Hawthorne," one guard said firmly.
"Please step back."
"This is my company!"
Charles answered coldly.
"Not tonight."
The words hit Ethan harder than any accusation.
Victoria watched the empire they had built together crumble piece by piece.
She expected to feel victorious.
Instead...
She felt exhausted.
She looked at Ethan.
"Tell me one thing."
He slowly raised his head.
"When did you stop loving me?"
Tears filled his eyes.
"I never did."
She closed hers for a moment.
"That's the cruelest lie you've told tonight."
She turned toward the exit.
This time...
No one tried to stop her.
As the ballroom doors opened, cold night air rushed inside.
She had taken only three steps when she heard someone shout behind her.
"Victoria!"
It wasn't Ethan.
It was Charles.
She turned.
His face had gone completely white.
One of the board members had just handed him Sophia's phone.
Charles looked at Ethan in disbelief.
His voice shook.
"My God..."
"This wasn't an affair."
He slowly lifted his eyes.
"You planned this from the beginning."
The entire ballroom froze.
May you like
Even Ethan said nothing.
**END OF CHAPTER 3**
